Nulla è reale, tutto è lecito. Requiescat en pace (Nothing is true, everything is permitted, Rest in Peace). Rōma, the city shrouded in legend and founded by the monumental Romulus on April 21st, 753 BC. Little did Rome know it would be the pith of an essence of legends for hundreds of years to come. Ezio Auditore da Firenze is on a crusade to end the corruption of the very Templar Order that had his father and brothers sentenced to death. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood brings one of the most historic iterations in the Assassin’s Creed series to conception, with the third animus of providing an impermeable memory of a Master Assassin experience through a brilliant storyline with a climatic and fulfilling ending, engaging remarkable camaraderie for the first time out of cutscenes in combat, wonderfully inspiring visuals of cities such as Rome and Monte Circeo, and a noteworthy introduction of an outstanding multiplayer concept in the series with an intensity woven to create a stunning masterpiece within a saga.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is imbued with the harrowing historic occupation of Rome by The Borgias in 1503. One of the largest cities in Italy, Rome serves as the stronghold of corruption within the Templar belief as a symbol of power, and this is where the battle of multiple proportions begins. Ezio Auditore da Firenze is no longer seeing the Renaissance in Italy come to the light through his very eyes, instead by spreading the Assassin’s Order of freedom of thought and expression throughout all of Italy, Ezio is shaping and creating the Renaissance of Italy in the grasping roots of history itself. As part of the Assassin Order’s long-withstanding devotion to freedom, Ezio must take care of key targets around the cities of Rome, Monterrigioni, Naples, Vana, and Monte Circeo while recruiting young and experienced Assassin’s willing to give up their life for the Assassin Order. Ezio always fought alone, with a few friends overseeing protectively in the shadows, but now he needs motivation, dedication by the masses for the cause, he needs other Assassins to join him side-by-side in the battle within the streets of Rome.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood utilizes the same incredible game mechanics as Assassin’s Creed II seeing certain systems make a return. The gameplay is concisely sung in the harmonious melody of Renaissance Italy and its culture, utilizing the incredible environmental layouts to allow Ezio to parkour his way throughout the city and cling to virtually anything realistically as the commoners of the town pass by in daily chores. Notoriety is one system that makes a return with Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, giving chance to personality. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood brings back the notoriety system, Ezio can become recognized and the environment dynamically changes its response around him. A high notoriety creates a level of response from civilians and guards, becoming either increasingly vigilant or appreciative of Ezio’s movements. Dividing the notoriety comes between different cities, so the player can gain a sense of dynamic gameplay that aids in the change of day to day life. Affecting notoriety comes intertwined with the realistic gameplay mission style: Ezio kills people from the Templar Order he loses notoriety. If Ezio chooses to carry on with his task or help a stranger, notoriety drops and Ezio is the mysterious hero that saves the day. The change of life brings back the day/night cycle, adding to a perspective between missions in terms of the timing. Monetary currency has also recrudesced. The monetary system follows closely behind the weapons upgrade growth, giving players the means to not just upgrade their weapons but also become a part of the economic community rather than just causing social and political upheaval in the 15th century.

Weapons are everything aside from the power of the fists and the extenuating circumstances of a blow to the head for Assassins. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood harbingers newer weapons that adumbrate the advanced rise of technology and potency in the powerful ranks of the Assassin Order. Crossbows and poison darts make a new entrance into Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood while the rest of the weapons have had dramatic overhauls in execution, accuracy, and moreover revitalized design. The tools of a Master Assassin are all accounted for, the only thing left remains in the skills to hunt down the target, whether it be a templar or even another Assassin.

While Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood brings back older game outlier systems, it also expands on gameplay elements to include complete control and solidarity in the Asssassin Order. Ezio finds the ability, after being inducted into the order in Assassin’s Creed II, to train and deploy other Assassins on missions where some have a notable effect in the success and progression of the storyline and the city itself. If a mission seems commodious, Ezio can organize Assasins into a group of followers, similar to a RTS style of play that is very engaging during combat. Most of the success of this new gameplay facet is attributable to the stunning friendly A.I., which is always precise and sometimes even shocking and fluid in their movements, whether it is moving from rooftops, or jumping to the ground below to engage in a massive town-centre battle. When Assassins die, they do not come back and if they fail missions then there are consequences that each of the Assassins realizes in the disappointment of expression features. Leadership is one of the proponent forces of the game, aside from freedom and the will of the sword for justice, which makes it one of the most important thematic and stylistic elements in the storyline of Ezio becoming a Master Assassin with further responsibilities as the “prophet” to the Assassin’s Order and goals of freedom throughout Italy from a religious regime.

Another Assassin lurks from the shadows in the corner of your eye: your life is in danger and your dignity is on the line. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood introduces one of the most refreshing, engaging, and simply captivating multiplayer experience that we have demanded since the first title when WhatIfGaming received it November 4th, 2007. Aside from a story that needed an indistinguishable amount of work in the plot and character phenomenon, multiplayer would have been a terrific example of integrating the Assassin experience or at the very least allowing 2 Assassin’s to engage in mission cooperatively together. While Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood does not have a cooperative gameplay campaign mode, which is a shockingly compelling golden opportunity completely derailed by the current worldwide production Ubisoft studios, it includes unique modes that are more than just the average Capture The Flag, Team Deathmatch, and other classical competitive modes that other titles velvet into deception. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood ascends a multiplayer offering with unique modes, in particular Wanted and Alliance. Wanted serves as the primary adversarial mode, a 10-minute mode where players are assigned another player target to assassinate and where the goal is to get the highest score of killing targets successfully in the given time-frame. Fortuitously, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood actualizes restriction measures to avoid ridiculous online mayhem, where players must stick to their creeds and kill the designated target. It is always surprisingly magical to see another Assassin whisk by in the air from the rooftop past you to their own target, which is one of the few moments of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood which makes it stand out above other multiplayer experiences in third-person action titles. Alliance is one of the best if not another premiere and prodigious mode that offers a cooperative mode where a two-player Assassin team tries to assassinate two other assassins. The pacing and team-dynamic is seat-lifting and the amount of players supporting each other reaches a climax when two Assassins can try and kill a lonely Assassin separated from the teammate. While the multiplayer experience could have included a cooperative campaign mode and more variety in terms of modes and customization/clans, for the time being it is a welcome addition that delivers on a great experience. Customization options allow editing robe colors, types of faces, and even clothing pieces. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood contrives an experience that macadamizes fantastic multiplayer experience for those who crave a real feel for freedom and defending the Assassin Order with other players online. Multiplayer Assassin action like this is heart-pounding fun that changes actively and engages players to always be looking over their shoulder.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood enraptures the sights and sounds of Rome conspicuously through the visuals and moreover the environments. While the environments are less varied than Assassin’s Creed II in terms of major cities, Rome itself contains luxuriant buildings and town squares that are much wider than the streets of the cities in the second title, and finally Rome is revealed to be more than just a background image like the end of the Assassin’s Creed II, which made players want to jump out into the roofs below and go exploring in the unexplorable. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood comes with beautiful Renaissance music alluding to the predecessor, all of which is composed by talented Jesper Kyd and his wonderful instrumentation. Songs pervade a sense of liberty, and moreover leadership with high crescendos and airy sharp sounds that bestows the challenges and struggle of a Master Assassin to fight the Borgias and to free Rome from corruption. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood’s music is filled with an insatiable need of tonality. The Renaissance style music, while not liturgical in masses or motets, comes in the form of instruments throughout the town commons. Cornetts can be heard including the Viol, Lute, Harpsichord and even Lyre’s to soothe the townspeople. The music in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood provides an exceptional and nonpareil look into Renaissance culture and the music. The views and resonance of Rome are all but a small part of what impresses Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood into honorable glory instead of personal vengeance.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood effectuates a powerful masterpiece and serves as an effulgent paradigm to a series which found its origins shrouded in mystery with Assassin’s Creed, then its identity confirmed in Assassin’s Creed II, and finally providing a definitive Assassin experience with Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. Ubisoft Montreal, with collaboration from Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Quebec, and Ubisoft Annecy has created a magnus opus in the Assassin’s Creed series, one worthy of a Game of The Year Nomination for WhatIfGaming’s Overall Game Of The Year Awards 2010. As an engaging successor that proffers a previously established story masterfully, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood seeks to surpass its predecessor through exquisite similar gameplay mechanics, but moreover delves into the unknown to transcend its own bounds through an engaging and fast paced multiplayer experience that paints itself with a profundity that is venerable. Ezio Auditore da Firenze is done giving vengeance to his family. Now, it is the time he must take vengeance for the people that have been wrong in all of Italy for a immeasurable length of their lives. You better get your blades and poison darts, the Assassin Order works together now.